IT’S TAKEN some time to ponder at least two news items that came out in the last couple of weeks:

Katie Couric is the new Dan Rather.

And “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” has become the ultimate bottom feeder.

Now, Katie’s a spunky little gal, but it’s been a while since she’s done any serious journalism. For the past few years she’s spent her time commenting on parades, talking over her interview guests and dancing with Antonio Banderas.

But CBS just knows that Katie’s going to bring in the younger viewers to the evening news.

Younger, of course, meaning folks at least in their 40s.

For our money, we’ve been enjoying Bob Schieffer enormously. He’s got a folksy style that’s not forced; he’s a strong, veteran news reporter who asks the tough questions without being obnoxious about it.

Of course, I’m all for a woman on the anchor desk. Elizabeth Vargas has been doing an admirable job over at ABC, especially in the wake of her co-anchor Bob Woodruff’s critical injuries while covering the war in Iraq. Woodruff is now in outpatient care, but he isn’t expected back on the job any time soon.

And Vargas will be taking maternity leave in a few months.

So we’ll just have Couric, with her cheerleader spirit, holding down a network anchor desk. We hope she does a good job, but we’re afraid she’s learned too many bad habits over the years. She just can’t help mugging for the camera, or hogging the microphone.

Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing when you’re trying to keep viewers awake in the early hours of the “Today” show.

If she brings in new viewers to the evening newscast when she arrives in September, that will be enough to make her reportedly $15 million a year salary worth every penny.

As for “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” the Sunday night miracle-working program took a hit a couple of weeks ago when a memo surfaced about casting for the series.

Now, we all know this show runs on the ability to plunk those heartstrings, but this past season it has become even more maudlin than ever. And ratings have been suffering. Yes, we want to see good people hit by tragedy get a new home. But at what cost?

A memo was sent out to the local ABC affiliates by the show’s casting department. The memo, which is posted on the Web site http://www.thesmokinggun.com, outlines exactly what the producers are looking for in a family.

Mere orphans just aren’t enough anymore.

The writer says the show is “especially looking for the following:” Mom/dad recently diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), or family who has a child with progeria, which the writer helpfully explains is “little old man disease.” They are also looking for people with congenital insensitivity to pain (There are 17 known cases in the U.S. — let me know if one is in your town!).

Oh, and if you know a family who turns tragedy into triumph after losing a child to drunk driving, someone who is a victim of hate crimes or home invasions (kids fear for their safety), we’ll come on down!

Spokespeople for the show defended the memo, saying in published reports that they see nothing wrong in trying to find people that fit the profile. After all, they are getting a new home out of it and that’s what’s really important, right?

‘Veronica’ jumps to Tuesday

Oh, how we love you, “Veronica Mars.” Let us count the ways.

We love your snappy repartee, the way you put us in touch with our inner high school student and the always-present mystery element. And now, with luck, you’ll get even more viewers when you change slots.

“Veronica Mars” is moving to 9 p.m. Tuesdays beginning tonight on UPN-Channel 44. Of course, we are devastated that UPN has decided to move it up against NBC’s “Scrubs” and Fox’s “House,” our two favorites.

There’s only one thing to be done. We need another television in the office hooked up to another DVR. That way we’ll have something to watch Saturday night. Or at various times on Monday.

For those who have lost track of Ronnie (Kristin Bell), or who haven’t taken in dip in this romp, the title character is a high schooler who is also a private investigator.

Right now she’s probing the high school bus crash that left many Neptune High students dead at the bottom of a seaside cliff. Tonight, she’s haunted by dreams in which she is confronted by the students killed in the crash.

Meanwhile, her former boyfriend, rich kid and bad boy Logan (Jason Dohring), and biker boy Weevil (Francis Capra) are paired for a physics project that neither is enthusiastic about, until they discover that their success might help Veronica receive a scholarship.

Monkeying around

For all of you amour-starved simian fans, the “Love Monkey” is back.

At least for a little while.

VH1, CBS’ sibling cable channel, will air the first three episodes of “Love Monkey” from 7 to 10 tonight. The snappy hour-long series stars Tom Cavanagh (“Ed”) as record executive Tom, so there’s plenty of good tunes to appeal to the music-channel crowd.

His New York pals include Bran (Judy Greer) and his best friend Mike (Jason Priestley), who is married to Tom’s sister Karen (Katherine LaNasa); Shooter (Larenz Tate) and Jake (Christopher Wiehl). Julie (Ivana Milicevic) is Tom’s co-worker and current love interest.

Rising singing star Teddy Geiger plays Wayne, an up-and-coming artist signed to Tom’s record label. Music performances and guest appearances include James Blunt, LeAnn Rimes, Natasha Bedingfield, Ben Folds, Aimee Mann, the “Late Show with David Letterman’s” Paul Shaffer and more.

Beginning at 9 p.m. April 18, five never-aired episodes will be seen. And then, my friends, it’s bah-bye monkey boy.

But for those anxiously awaiting “Commander-in-Chief,” the Geena Davis series is back Thursday.

Five reputed Vallejo gang members, one of them already convicted of murder earlier this year, appeared in Solano County Superior Court on Friday to face more legal proceedings in the coming weeks in connection with the shooting deaths of three men in 2017 and 2018 in Vallejo.

A Mountain View entrepreneur who developed a device to help patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, captured the $20,000 first prize in the 19th annual Big Bang! Business Competition at UC Davis.